Martin Bakole goes back to his fight against Tony Yoka. The Congolese boxer had beaten the Frenchman in front of his Paris audience on May 16. Bakole even held back to avoid finishing him off in front of his family.
Martin Bakole handed Tony Yoka his first professional defeat. On May 16 at the Accohotels Arena in Paris, the Congolese outclassed the Frenchman, winning by judges' decision. Bakole settled for the points victory. But the 29-year-old boxer could have scored a much bigger win. He could have given himself a K-O, but he preferred to spare Yoka in front of his family. "I didn't want to finish him. I saw his kids at ringside. A victory on points was enough," Bakole said in the columns of L'Equipe. He continued: "In the ring, facing me, he was lost. What he showed had nothing to do with what he thought he was".
Martin Bakole was awarded the National Order of Merit of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Yoka, him, from the same DRC, is missing since this defeat. The 2016 Olympic champion has not made any media appearance. And in L'Equipe, it is his entourage that tries to explain his defeat against the colossus Bakole mentioning personal problems including his divorce with Estelle Mossely, with whom he had two children. "He lived a big gap, explains his lawyer Arnauld Pericard. Of the amazement, the denial. Then moments of distress more complicated. The French Champion should still find the rings next February, announces L'Equipe. The identity of his opponent is not known.
